214 APRIL1882. ON WOOL-COMBING BY MODERN MACHINERY. - BY BIR. F. Sf. T. LANGE, OF ST. ACHEUL-LES-AMIENE. The Combing of Wool by Machinery has made such vast progress towards perfection, that it will be unnecessary to do more than touch upon the old process of combing by hand ; but a few words may be devoted to this subject, in order to give a clearer idea of the work to be performed on the raw wool. The wool, after having been washed, is in a very tangled state, and full of little knots and burrs, technically called buttons, neps, or motes. It therefore requires to be straightened out, and to have the buttons, neps, or motes removed from it; and this can only be done by passing a comb through the mass many times." The wool works much more kindly if the combs (which have steel teeth) are warm, and if a little oil is put on the wool ; hence in former days three hand-combers generally worked around one " fire pot," with burning charcoal in it, and each man placed one of his hand-combs on the edge of the pot to get warm whilst he was using the two others. Of these, one comb was placed on a projecting vertical spike attached to a post (the '' pad post" as it was callqd), with its teeth standing upwards; and into this the comber lashed or struck the end of a bunch or body of wool which he held in his * Saint Blake, Bishop of Sebaste in Cappadocia, who lived in the second century, is supposed to have been the inventor of the hand-comb, and he die& D martyr, his flesh being torn to pieces with his own iron combs. In the fourth century combing was effected with a single row of pins; when shorter wools came to be combed, the rows were increased up to five, or even more, in order better to clear the wool of knots and impurities. Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on June 5, 2016 APRIL18LI-2. WOOL-COMBING YACHINEBY. 215 hand, until the comb was loaded. He then took a warm comb, and repeatedly passed its teeth downwards, first through the end of the fringe or mass of wool in thc fixed comb, and then gradually closer and closer up to the teeth ; thus not only getting all the (( buttons,” which he had combed out of the wool, well into and behind the teeth of his own comb, but also combing out about half of the wool from the fixed comb into his own comb. He then placed the comb he had been working with on the post; and taking thc third comb fresh and warm from the fire, proceeded exactly in the same way with this, until it became loaded in its turn. He then fixed this last comb on the post, and proceeded to draw off the projecting fringe of wool (or “milk it off,” as it was sometimes called), drawing it off with his fingers and thumbs into a long and nearly clean sliver of wool. This clean wool is called cc Top.” The above process cost about 2s. 6d. a lb. to do, and sometimes had to be repeated. In France it was common to take out any ‘(buttons,” remaining in the sliver after combing, with the lips, thc sliver being held up against the ljght by the two hands in order to discover them. This process mas called “ Nactage.” The wool and impurities which remain in the comb after drawing off are called ‘“oil,” and are sold to cloth-makers, who require a somewhat ‘(fuzzy ” thread for cloth, and not a long smooth fibre like that used for merino, mousseline-de-laine, serge, worsted, &c. The first Wool-combing Machine was invented by the Reverend Edmund Cartwright of Doncaster in tho year 1790, and he afterwards made further improvements in it. This is the same Edmund Cartwright who invented the surface condenser for steam engines, and the power loom, &c. His combing machine was described shortly in a paper by the late Mr. Benjamin Fothergill (Proceedings, 1853, p. 152). It was an exceedingly ingenious machine, considering that it waa the first to deal with a material which until that time had only been treated by hand ; and the motions that were adopted were evidently in imitation of the hand-motions in combing. Thus the gc Crank Lasher ” H, Fig. 1, Plate 30, has a pair of small feed rollers F, to deal out the sliver as the lasher H lashes it into the receiving comb C, which stands in the place of the fixed hand-comb. This is Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on June 5, 2016 216 WOOL-COMBING MACHINERY. APRIL1882. a large circular comb travelling slowly round on a vertical axis, and having its teeth horizontal, and pointing inwards. The wool is worked or cleaned by a conical working comb W, which is carried round in a vertical circle, with the points of its teeth towards the points of the teeth of the circular receiving comb C. The “top” on the comb W is drawn off by the rollers R,. The large comb C not only brings the wool round to be combed, but when combed carries it on to the other drawing-off rollers R,, where it is drawn off in a clean sliver or tc top,” leaving the noil and dirt in the comb, from whence it has afterwards to be removed. Mr. Cartwright made several improvements in his machine, but met with great opposition from the hand-combers. A Bill was presented to Parliament to suppress combing by machinery, but was thrown out by a large majority. The combing by this machine was not by any means perfect, nor indeed was the work done by hand perfect, but often had to be done twice over, causing great expense and loss in wool. A little later Hawksley of Nottingham improved this machine, though still leaving much to be desired ; his machine was made by Robert Ramsbotham, who it appeared did not think well of it. It was not until long after this that any combing machine worked at all on the true principle for obtaining really clean (‘top ” ; and it was still later that a machine was invented to take out all the ‘‘ top,” and thus leave none of it mixed with the noil. The next combing machine that deserves notice, and in fact the first that was in any degree satisfactory, was not brought out for thirty years after Cartwright’s. It was invented by Godart, of Amiens in France, in 1823, and was patented here in 1827 by John Platt. It was made by Collier, and was called “Collier’s Comb.” Some of these combs were at work as late as 1854, or perhaps a little later, in this country. The machine was of very simple construction. It consisted of two large circular and cylindrical combs W, Figs. 2 and 2A, Plate 31, (that is to say, combs in which the teeth stood up like a crown parallel with the axis), and two pairs of drawing-off rollers R, and R,, and nothing more. The combs, which were heated by steam, were set with their peripheries running near each other, and their teeth Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on June 5, 2016 APRIL 1882. WOOL-CONBING YAUHINERY. 217 pointing towards each other, but with their axes somewhat inclined to the horizontal in opposite directions. Thus, when one comb had been loaded with wool, which was lashed into it by hand, the teeth of the other comb, as the two combs revolved, would enter the wool, and then, as the teeth separated, would comb it out, leaving the projecting fringe comparatively clean and free from buttons and neps. The combs were gradually advanced towards each other, so as to comb closer and closer up to each other. Finally the combs were stopped, and the drawing-off rollers R, and R, were advanced ; the fringes of wool on each comb being entered between its drawing-off rollers, the rollers mere started, and drew off a sliver of ‘‘ top ” P from the comb, the comb revolving very slowly until it had made one revolution. By this time all the ‘‘ top” had been drawn off from it, and its teeth were then stripped of the remaining noil, and reloaded with wool to start afresh: With this machine the noil often amounted to 33 per cent. in weight of the cardings, i.e., of the wool as brought to the comb, after it has been freed by washing and carding from dirt, tar, sand, stones, and rubbish. This comb was more suited for long wools, and one great objection was that the wool was imperfectly combed, and that the action was intermittent. Many machines have been brought out since Collier’s, but it is quite unnecessary to attempt to describe them all. The machines of chief note are tabulated below, in order of priority. Heilmann’s, 1845 (often called Schlumberger’s on the Continent). Lister & Donnisthorpe’s, 1849-51-52. Preller & Eastwood’s, 1852 (known on the Continent as Opell’s). Noble’s, 1853. Crabtree’s, 1854. Lister’s, 1856. (Improvement on Noble.) Rawson’s. (Improvement on Lister.) Holden’s, 1856. Smith & Bradley’s, 1871. Mirfield & Hcott’s, 1870. Little & EastWOOd’s, 1872 (made by Messrs. Platt, Oldham). Lange’s, 1881. Downloaded from pme.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CINCINNATI on June 5, 2016 218 WOOL-COMBING MACHINEBY.